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Whether you love or hate the pacifier, at some point, to avoid the possibility of dental and speech articulation impairment, your child needs to wean. Besides, it’s nice to see your child’s entire face. The easiest time to wean is usually around two to three years old. At that point, your child’s dependence on sucking for self-comfort begins to lessen and he begins to want to dissociate himself from being a “baby.”

Now that it’s the New Year, here are some ways to say bye-bye to the binkie, if this is on your child’s (or your) resolution list.

Throw the pacifier across the room and entice your child to say with you, “Yucky, binkies are for babies.”

Restrict pacifiers to specific places such as your home, crib, or bed

Take a “Binkie finding hunt” with your child and gather all the binkies into a basket. Have the binkie fairy come overnight, take the basket, and leave a present in the morning. Alternatively, one set of parents told me that they told their child that they were gathering binkies for babies who didn’t have any.

If giving your child a pacifier is part of your bedtime routine, start to introduce something else such as a special blanket or stuffed animal.

Sometimes as parents, we are the ones who have to be weaned. When your child is upset, do not automatically pop a binkie into your child’s mouth. Seek other ways to help your child calm himself

Vow to yourself not to buy new pacifiers at the grocery store. Gradually the pacifiers left in the house will disappear or the mold on them will prompt you to throw them away.

Cut a small hole in the tip of the nipple- the binkie will not “be the same.” Tell your child that the binkie is broken and throw it away.

Vacations disrupt schedules. Therefor, sometimes in an unfamiliar bed, children wean habits. Conveniently forget the binkie while going on vacation and do not introduce it on return home.

By age three, most kids appreciate the value of a good bribe. Offer them a reward for going a whole week (or at least 3 days) without the binkie. One night doesn’t count because often the second night is more difficult for the child than the first when he is giving up the binkie. Once you have gone a week, the child will have no desire to go back. Just make sure you have disposed of every last binkie in your home so they will not have reminders of the “good old days.”

6 comments

Thisis so timely for our family.. thank you for some great tips! Our third child just turned three, and it’s time to lose the binky. It’s pretty much just for naptime and bedtime, but it is definately part of his going to bed routine. Even though we’ve done this twice before, it’s never easy, I think!With our first child, she decided she would stop herself. Fine for the first night, like you said, but got progressively more difficult. After three nights she sadly explained, “but it’s my last thing (before going to sleep).” So we gave it back, and gradually she shortened her time with it, until one day she just was done with it. She had just turned three, also.My other son, who was approaching three, was very “bink ‘n bunny” (his stuffed bunny) dependent at bedtimes. We started to introduce a blankie – “bink ‘n blankie”, and then take away the binky. He had only one ratty one he was using at the time, and wouldn’t take a substitute anyway. Both my husband and I caved a couple of times, until he got a stomach bug, and I threw it out.. buried deep in the trashcan out on the curb. A couple of tearful nights, but then he was done.

I’m going to keep in mind that we just have to get through the first week, and then we’re in the clear!

Seeing this post couldn’t have come at a better time. We are struggling with this currently, although our son only uses the ‘bink’ during naps and at night to sleep, it has caused an open bite. I work for an orthodontist so I know it is not yet critical to ween him off of the bink since he is still young and does not yet have his permanent teeth, but I like the idea of introducing something new at night in place of the bink. Thank you and I’m so glad I came across this site!